About

The List #1 - Not your normal Christmas tale...

£3,963

pledged of £3,500 goal

125

backers

Sal’s not like the Santa you see in the movies. He’s not that fat, not very jolly and definitely
doesn’t say “Ho ho ho”. Sal doesn’t deliver presents on Christmas Eve either, instead he
gives children a better gift, freedom.

Sal struggles to come to terms with the fact that he’s only allowed to help children on
Christmas Eve. He drinks away most of the year in a vain attempt to forget the
things that he's seen and done.

Sal works for Santa Squad, an elite organisation of Secret Santas and their Elves who take care of Christmas each year; from delivering presents to
saving children, they’ve got it covered. In charge of Santa Squad is Jesus
Christ. Yes that one, it’s the celebration of his birth after all. Sal
and Jesus don’t exactly see eye-to-eye. Jesus wants Sal to understand that helping the few is
better than helping none but Sal thinks he can do more and vehemently disagrees with Jesus'
statement of "Help them too much and they come to rely upon you".

The children Sal has to save are chosen and placed on "The List". On Christmas
Eve he travels all around the world, from one timezone to the next saving children, no matter
the cost.

This mature comic covers events unfolding on Christmas Eve as Sal does whatever it takes to keep kids safe.

*If we get loads of backers who pledge at these new tiers (and the ones above them) then I'll be able to add more merch to the bundle at no extra cost to you!

If you pledged £50 and want the merch bundle then add £9 to your pledge. If you pledged £75 add £7.50. Any of the named character tiers get it for free.

The first issue is 22 pages long, saddle stitched, printed on 70lb paper (in full colour) and will (roughly) measure 6.625 inches by 10.25 inches.

If you choose to become a character in The List then we will contact you requesting a photo for the artist to use as reference. We'll assign you a character of our choosing.

The comic will be signed by both the writer (James) and the artist (Liana).

If you're buying this as a Christmas present for someone then please let us know. We will be more than happy to send a personalised message that you can print out and give to them on Christmas Day.

Everyone who backs will get a "Special Thanks" in the comic. Anyone who is drawn as a character will be added into a gallery page.

Sal is a drunk, grumpy Santa for eleven months of the year, for the other month he’s just grumpy. Sal’s the type of person who wears his heart on his sleeve, if he doesn’t like you he’ll make you well aware of it. The weight of his work weighs heavy on his mind and he gets frustrated there isn’t more he can do.

Derek is the elf in charge of Sal’s support team and is also Sal’s best friend. He’s very straight with Sal and tells it like it is; there’s no sugar-coating anything. Maggie and Keith are the other elves in Sal's support team. The three of them make up a very important part of Sal's life.

Jesus is the leader of Santa Squad and is always looking to dish out wisdom, but not all are willing to listen. He runs the Santa Squad operation from Santa HQ in the North Pole.

Here's the art from the updates

Kickstarter is a brilliant platform for creators and allows us to raise funds for something we've put a lot of love and effort into and lets us control what happens to it in the future.

The funds will mainly be used for two things: pay the incredibly talented Liana Recchione to finish drawing the comic and to pay for printing costs. The remaining money will be used to pay for the rewards and some contingency for unforeseen expenses that may occur.

James is a games designer from Cambridge, UK. He has been collecting comics for nearly fifteen years and has an extensive collection, including some quite rare, graded comics. He wrote The List as a way to give something back to the medium he loves so much.

Liana is an awarded comics authoress, penciller and colourist from Orsogna, a village in the middle of Italy. She is the creator of the comic series Risenfall, successfully
crowdfunded on Kickstarter, and has a wide experience working with mainstream comic publishers such as
Shockdom, Wombat, and Manfont Editions. She's also a teacher of comics in the International School of
Comics of Pescara (Italy).

Risks and challenges

The main risk to the project is making sure that it is delivered on time. Both Liana and I have jobs and other commitments. We are dedicated to this project though. I have been working on the project for nearly two years and Liana for nearly one. We are both excited to see where it takes us and how far we can take the characters.

Printing quality will also be a slight risk although I have already begun getting samples from printers to try and find the best quality for the best price. I'm a firm believer that the quality of the printing affects your enjoyment of reading. The more the colours pop and the feel of the page and cover make a huge difference.